Thursday, July 07, 2011

A way in

That the News of the World is to cease publication after this Sunday is news. But in many ways, the assault on News International exemplifies everything that is wrong with the modern media and contemporary politics. For sure, the Murdoch empire is pretty loathsome, but no more or less so than the rest of the media.

To say that the media have gone outrageously OTT, and that the politicians have lost the plot, is one thing. But to make the case is another. Fortunately, Autonomous Mind has found a way in to the labyrinth, and done it.

Sadly, not only the claque but a huge tranche of the public has been caught up in the hype, misled as to its importance, while other, more important issues are drowned out.

And, for all the apparent drama of the end of the NOTW, one notes that the best-selling Sun does not produce a Sunday edition. In three to four months (or even earlier), that could change.

It is believed News International has been planning this for some time as part of a cost-cutting exercise and it has emerged that the domain name thesunonsunday.co.uk was registered two days ago by a design company called Media Spring. The phoenix will arise, and nothing very much will have changed in the newspaper world.

However, if something as big as the NOTW title can be brought down prematurely by the hue-and-cry of the mob, one wonders if The Boy might not be similarly vulnerable. Cameron made a lot of enemies on the way up, and already some of his allies are turning on him. He could be brought down as fast as the NOTW. But, unlike the News of the World, he would not be able to reinvent himself under another name.

Should we be about to see regime change in London, though, at least someone in Tripoli might appreciate the irony.